<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>We Deserved A Soft Epilogue, My Love (We Sure As Hell Didn’t Get One) by nic_takes_Ls (nic_L)</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29017611">We Deserved A Soft Epilogue, My Love (We Sure As Hell Didn’t Get One)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/nic_L/pseuds/nic_takes_Ls'>nic_takes_Ls (nic_L)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Dream SMP (Video Blogging RPF), Minecraft (Video Game), Tales From The SMP (Video Blogging RPF), Video Blogging RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>(i don't know how kisses work i've never had one shut up), Angst, Benjamin is Tubbo's Descendant, Canon Compliant, Canonical Character Death, Cletus is Wilbur's Descendant, First Kiss, Future Fic, Hurt No Comfort, Isaac (Tales Of The SMP)-centric, Karl Jacobs-centric, M/M, So basically i took isaac's kiss and made it the entire backstory between these fucking, characters fuck my life what am i even doing anymore, i used the dogwater and the boxed like a fish meme in this please end me /j, the lost city of mizu</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 13:27:46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,956</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29017611</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/nic_L/pseuds/nic_takes_Ls</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>For all the books they'd read, all the fading journals cut off abruptly, all their own ancestors' stories they'd found unfinished, Isaac had thought that he and Benjamin deserved a soft epilogue.  They'd never find one in Mizu.</p><p>Or; Isaac gave Benjamin a kiss before he climbed the wall and I went 'huh. that's pretty neat.'</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Isaac &amp; Charles &amp; Cletus &amp; Benjamin, Isaac/Benjamin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>97</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>We Deserved A Soft Epilogue, My Love (We Sure As Hell Didn’t Get One)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>hagsfajg i have no excuse idk i just liked Benjamin a whole lot</p><p>and yes, Cletus is coded as a Wilbur descendant bc i thought it would be fucking funny and Benjamin a bit more hard to see but Tubbo's descendant?? idk man</p><p>(also yeah please notice how i didn't tag relationships between bbh and karl themselves yup please don't look at this anything near that way im so fucking scared to post anything with a / in it this is only the second one and the last time i did was for past mentioned salbur)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The three of them stand feet away from the bubbling magma hissing and spitting and lending an orange-painted hue over their features, the warmth somehow managing to threaten blisters from this far away.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Isaac doesn’t know what to say, what to do, whether they should try and scale the mess of stone and lava together or whether to sit and wait for Ranbob to chase them down and burn them alive like he did Cletus.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Isaac wonders if he could try climbing it himself, at least.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He opens his mouth to speak and Benjamin’s voice interrupts him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I can go.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The dulcet tones of his voice are steadier than they’ve been ever since the tree dome, since the remaining trio tore their way through the halls and convoluted paths of the underwater city. Since Benjamin had made such a ragged noise at the sight of Cletus’ body falling to the floor with flame-charred skin and his goggles shattered on the ground.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What?” Charles sounds about as incredulous as Isaac feels.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’ve done parkour before and- And it almost looks like a course, just a little more dangerous, you know. I’m going to try.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Isaac waits for Benjamin to lift his gaze, and when they do there’s nothing Isaac can say.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Benjamin’s eyes are still the shade of forest green, of pine needles and long ferns and new leaves and old vines and the barely-there ring of brown around the irises.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Isaac wonders what Benjamin sees, whether his eyes focus longer on the single lapis-blue eye or the glowing green ‘eye’ framed in shiny brass Benji had formed himself.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Whether his gaze skips from his eyes to his pale skin, always somehow a bit sallow, or whether Benjamin tends to stare a little longer at his face, his frame at all.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Isaac knows he, himself does.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Isaac lets a breath hitch in his throat. </span>
</p><p>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>“I- Okay. Okay, Benji.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Benji blinks as if he’s surprised, but then his eyes narrow in determination. </span>
</p><p>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>“Okay.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And a quill, dripping with ink, is held aloft the story of Isaac and Benjamin’s lives, waiting to touch the page.</span>
</p><p>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
</p>
<hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Before all of this, before Isaac had dragged his friends with him to explore that strange underwater ruins of a city, they’d lived and breathed and played by the sea, fished every meal and wander their strange small island, finding antiques from their parents and their parents before them and their own antiques and whispers of a land before that time.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Charles would rouse them all from their small, open windowed home with a cracked stone bell Benji had soldered together with brass, then the four would grab up their fishing rods and cast them into the ever-cerulean sea. Someone would start the fire, another watch his line, and the other two would begin reeling in breakfast further out, changing every day but over the years usually switching between the duos of Charles and Cletus and Benjamin and Isaac.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When Charles and Cletus were fishing off the dock, they could be heard mindlessly squabbling, needless arguments that meant nothing but made everything between their odd friendship of ‘Fuck off’s and ‘Fuck you’s and Charles frequently telling Cletus to stop saying he was going to fuck the fish.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When it was him and Benjamin, Isaac would begin the strange game of watching Benjamin’s every move from the corner of his eye while never meeting his glance full-on for more than a second, Benjamin eventually catching on and playing as well.  And every time Benjamin would turn his profile to the sea and close his eyes at a salty spray of ocean, Isaac would stare unabashedly at his hair ruffling with the breeze, the constellation of freckles across his cheeks dark in the bright sunlight, the carefully restrained smile on Benji’s face in the face of the wind rushing by.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Benji was always careful to calm his enthusiasm with his interest in all things magic, even the instinctual fear of red the other three had faked in his reactions. But Isaac knew Benjamin enough to leave him alone with his old water-logged journal of ‘Dreamons’, whatever those were, whenever Charles and Cletus were asleep, simply creep closer with a candle and leave it at Benjamin’s side. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The greens of Benjamin’s eyes glittering, enchanted with the history of spells and magicks and long-lost powers were worth Isaac sneaking a book stained at the corner with something red spilt ages ago and marked with a smeared print of the initials “BBH” under Benjamin’s pillow after he’d fished it up from the sea one day. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So Isaac knew that as Benji stood in the wind and the spray that he was imagining them both dancing at his word, at spells, and Isaac would stand transfixed and wonder if Benji already knew magic and had cast a spell on him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>And then Benji would open his eyes and Isaac flinch away and tug his brass arm bracer as if he’d adjusted it, hide the flush on his face. </span>
  <span><br/>
<br/>
</span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span><br/>
<br/>
</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The night before the fishermen had set off for Mizu, Isaac had come the closest he’d ever been to- He doesn’t even know how to say. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>To something he’s built up for over years, at least. </span>
  <span><br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>To something either ruining or potentially the best thing he would’ve done. </span>
  <span><br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>But he didn’t, he didn’t do anything at all, so-</span>
  <span><br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>Isaac was on the sand, a firepit on the shore before him, the plates rinsed in the saltwater from their dinner on a driftwood table a ways back, Cletus across him and almost managing to make something resembling music from the odd wooden, stringed thing that washed up on their shore and he’d immediately clung to. Charles sat between him and Cletus, hands held outstretched to the fire. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Benjamin was on the opposite side of the fire from Isaac, simply staring into the flames as they caught a gleam on every one of his trench coat’s buttons.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay, I know I’ve asked this before, but Cletus, are you sure that’s in</span>
  <em>
    <span> any</span>
  </em>
  <span> shape or form an instrument?” Charles drawled and gestured to said wooden shambles.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Cletus gasped, a faux-indignant air about him as he sat up and moved the -instrument, apparently- to lay in the sand beside him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You wanna say that to my face? Huh, Charles? Wanna get close and personal and also get wrecked?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Charles shifted, tensing, before saying casually, “I dunno, aren’t you total dogwater?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Cletus gasped.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Benjamin, take care of my music instruments thing- I gotta get a better name for that. But- Yeah. Make sure it doesn’t get broken or shit.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Language.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And with that, Cletus launched himself after Charles, who stood up and dashed down the shoreline, already laughing himself half-into hysterics.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Isaac chuckled to himself quietly, watching as the pair started trying to shove each other close to the water, tripping over their own feet in the darkness.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And then there was a warmth at his side and Isaac turned to see Benjamin there, cross-legged and hat left on the sand where he had been sitting.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Charles is gonna get boxed.” Isaac found himself saying.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Benjamin grinned, wide and sly. “Like a fish.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They both laughed, and Benjamin seemed to shift a little closer to the fire at a small shudder. Closer to him, Isaac realized.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I wonder whether your map really leads to anywhere. Anywhere anymore, I mean.” Benjamin gestured to Isaac’s pocket where the weathered piece of wax paper stuck out of his pocket. </span>
  <span><br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>“Oh, yeah!” Isaac tugged the creased map open and spread it across his lap. “I think- I really think that it might show Mizu, the old city, you know? The drawings we thought were just building placeholders? Those could be domes, glass domes and under the ocean, I think.” </span>
  <span><br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>Isaac rambled on a bit longer, pointing around the small written symbols and the faint scrawls of previous drawings on the paper before glancing up at Benji and cutting himself off with a quick breath.</span>
  <span><br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>Benjamin wasn’t looking at the map, but up at Isaac, his face open and unguarded and only greeting Isaac’s sudden gaze with a blink. </span>
  <span><br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>The fire crackled in the sudden silence and Isaac breathed out slow, close enough for Benjamin’s hair to ruffle slightly with the movement, and Benji tilted his head ever so imperceptibly. </span>
  <span><br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>Isaac felt frozen in time, limbs like ice in all but the heat under his skin, the red he knew would be visible on his face if were not for the shade of night. He hesitated, on the brink of pulling away or ever closer, and there he stayed, too close and too far. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They were a fresh page of a book, waiting to be inked and written and for Isaac to move, to press forward. </span>
  <span><br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>Multiple heartbeats passed, and slowly, Benjamin’s green of his eyes seemed to dullen, and right as he pulled away, Isaac realized what he’d done, but it was too late and he did nothing and then Cletus had tripped over their nearly-brushing knees.</span>
  <span><br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>“Oh, fuck, sorry- Are- Are you alright?” Charles came up behind Isaac as he watched Benjamin help Cletus up and to the house. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Isaac turned to Charles, shifting to his knees and standing up unsteadily. </span>
  <span><br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>Charles blinked. “Whoa, are you okay? You look-”</span>
  <span><br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>“I don’t- I don’t know.”</span>
  <span><br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>Charles stepped closer and placed a hand on Isaac’s arm and gasped.</span>
  <span><br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>“Wait, did we- Did me and Cletus interrupt-”</span>
  <span><br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>“No.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Isaac pulled his arm away and felt his breath stutter in his throat. </span>
  <span><br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>“No.”</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span>There was nothing to be interrupted because Isaac didn’t do anything at all. The page stayed blank.</span>
  <span><br/>
<br/>
</span>
</p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span>And now Benjamin stands before Isaac with the same glint in his eyes, his hair plastered to his neck ever since his dive in the ravine, his hat left abandoned rooms ago and his goggles over his head. </span>
</p><p>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>And he’s trembling and he’s scared and Benji is determined and ready to burn himself alive and he’s still beautiful. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Charles coughs from where he stands behind Isaac, eyes shiny and stance small. </span>
</p><p>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>“I- Good luck, Benji.”</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
</p><p>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>“Thank you.” With the words, Benjamin meets Isaac’s gaze and seems to steel himself before opening his mouth to speak.</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>“Isaac-” </span>
</p><p>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>Isaac throws himself forwards and presses a desperate kiss onto Benji’s lips before pulling back and gripping his shoulders. Benjamin’s eyes are blown wide, his face wiped clean with shock, a hand held weakly in the air.</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>The ink’s on the page, wet and dark and clear.</span>
</p><p>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>“Go, okay? Go, Benji.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>Benjamin doesn’t attempt to speak, faltering to move for an eternity-long heartbeat before he draws away from his two surviving friends and begins the climb of the lava-spilling walls, reaching from platform to platform and pulling himself higher.</span>
</p><p>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>And Benji reaches the near-last stone and a sudden burst of lava hisses and Benji was gone and he was </span>
  <em>
    <span>gone</span>
  </em>
  <span>-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The words are smeared, drops of inky black rivulet down the page like tear stains.</span>
  <span><br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>Isaac makes the climb himself, stunned and empty and numb and unflinching as a speck of magma burns the back of his hand. He tosses the key down to Charles before jumping recklessly to the floor, following Charles in half a haze as they run for their lives.</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
</p><p>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>For all the books they'd read, all the fading journals cut off abruptly, all their own ancestors' stories they'd found unfinished, Isaac had thought that he and Benjamin deserved a soft epilogue.</span>
</p><p>
  <span><br/>
But as a madman cut him down and hissed vitriolic about leaving (as if Isaac would leave Benji behind anyways) and idols and stories with butchered ends, Isaac wanted to laugh. He didn’t of course. </span>
  <span><br/>
<br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>His story ended with a spray of red and a cut-off ending, and no epilogue would ever follow.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>MMM JOIN WRITERS BLOCK, WHERE WE GO FERAL N WRITE FUN MCYT SHIT YEAH</p><p>https://discord.gg/w9CwSK26mm MMMMM JOIN WE HAVE actually a lot of cool shit (and mcyt fic celebrities omg) :D</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>